Daiwa Powermesh X Medium and Jerk rods.
Both Powermesh X lure specials are 6ft 6in, one-piece construction, with the power to cast big lures and the backbone to hit hooks home.
Each is fitted with cork handle and comfortable trigger reel grip for use with multipliers.
They are also rung for heavy braids with a super hard Titanium Carbide tip guide.
• IM42 MSG reinforced with 12-strand Powermesh braid
• High blank compression
• Powerful low-diameter blank design
• Smooth, extra-strong Zircon guides, suitable for braid
• Titanium Carbide tip ring
• Trigger reel seat for multipliers
• Full cork handle
• Matt finish blanks
PMXK66MB 6’6” casting weight – 3 ounces RRP £99.99
PMXK66JB 6’6” casting weight – 2 to 6 ounces RRP £114.99
Reviewer Says:
I already had a heavy jerk bait rod, a Daiwa Whisker (casts 168 grams) that I believe has now been discontinued (though you might still find one or two in the shops still), but what I needed was a medium to reasonably heavy rod that would cast up to 100 grams. This would then cover most of the lures that are in my big box without taking the Whisker rod and even bigger jerk bait lures. The answer to my prayers was the Powermesh X Medium Jerk rod casting 3 ounces (that’s 84 grams).
The rod is certainly light and I do have a lot of faith in Daiwa’s “Powermesh” rods since I also have 3 other specialist rods from the same Powermesh stable. Being only 6’6” you’d think it might be difficult chuck a lure some distance with this rod, but it casts a lure as far as you need to whilst at the same time being able to control the lure. I can get a good 60 yards with it if I want to, but most of the time I will cast a fair bit shorter than that.
I put one of my Abu 5000 multipliers on it with 65lbs braid, but I am now wondering if 50lbs would have been sufficient anyway. We’ll soon see as yet another casting reel is winging it’s way from USA as a Christmas present, God Bless the American Santa! (My Daughter really.) I might just load that with 50lbs and believe it or not, it’s also a Daiwa, the Trillionaire model. (Ooops, I’m not supposed to know that yet, am I, seeing as Santa’s bringing it?)
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| My own keep ring, a screw down cable tie. |
One thing I did notice was missing was a keep ring, the small eye or ring at the butt just above the handle to which you attach your lure when moving between swims or resting it. It would have been nice to see one, but in any case, I put one of my special cable ties around the rod just there and they work better in some respects as they keep the lure and the hooks a little further away from the blank. You do have to watch them though in case a loop of line gets stuck underneath it, I haven’t resolved that problem with them yet.
Anyway, I took this rod with me to Ireland hoping to tame the monsters of Lough Ree, but as you will read in my reports on that event, I struggled a bit. The biggest fish, 18lbs 8 ozs, came in on the Daiwa Whisker Jerk rod, but I did have three smaller pike to about 8 lbs on this Powermesh X model. It handled them brilliantly and that says something because I was getting a decent scrap out of smaller pike. There’s no question that it will handle much bigger fish well too, you can feel the power in the bend of it.
If you want a real heavy Jerk rod then go for the Jerk version that casts up to 6 ozs (168 grams) because if it’s anything like its cousin, the Whisker, it too will give you a good scrap and handle most of the jerk baits you can buy. The other point to make is that a lot of lure rods have casting weights that are optimal, say 15 – 45 grams, yet will happily cast up to 65 or 70 grams. This rod is has been given a maximum casting weight instead (84 grams), but whilst I was happily casting lures of 95 grams with it, I wouldn’t go any more than that 100 grams maximum I set for myself.
If I have a concern, it’s the titanium carbide tip ring. Oh it’s fine, believe me, well made and very hard, but I had a beach rod once with a silicone carbide tip ring and when the rod fell over one day, the ring hit a stone and shattered into 7 or 8 pieces. I hope Titanium Carbide is a bit more resilient, but if any engineering/metallurgist types out there can reassure me of that I’d appreciate it. I also hope I don’t drop this one. At least it’s only a tip ring and I can fix it with a different type if needs be or maybe Daiwa will send me a replacement for a small charge. That’s my only concern though, small as it is.
How do I rate this rod? Ruddy marvellous! It casts well, it’s short enough for jerking (towards the ground – typical of jerk fishing) and really great fun to use.
Would I recommend it? You bet I would! If you really like medium to heavy lure fishing, get one and if you like using even bigger jerk lures, get the heavier one!
